“It’s not as if TEPCO’s transparency and credibility was stellar prior to March 11, 2011. Back in 2002, TEPCO covered up the facts about cracks in the nuclear reactors at three nuclear power plants (Joi Ito covered this). Around a week after the earthquake and tsunami, the Associated Press rehashed TEPCO’s unforthcoming past….

Behind Japan’s escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses.

Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all.

In one case, workers hand-mixed uranium in stainless steel buckets, instead of processing by machine, so the fuel could be reused, exposing hundreds of workers to radiation. Two later died.

“Everything is a secret,” said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who now lives in California. “There’s not enough transparency in the industry.”

Sugaoka worked at the same utility that runs the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant where workers are racing against time to prevent a full meltdown following the March 11 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami.

In 1989, Sugaoka received an order that horrified him: edit out footage showing cracks in plant steam pipes in video being submitted to regulators. Sugaoka alerted his superiors in the Tokyo Electric Power Co, but nothing happened. He decided to go public in 2000. Three TEPCO executives lost their jobs.

“It’s not as if TEPCO’s transparency and credibility was stellar prior to March 11, 2011. Back in 2002, TEPCO covered up the facts about cracks in the nuclear reactors at three nuclear power plants (Joi Ito covered this). Around a week after the earthquake and tsunami, the Associated Press rehashed TEPCO’s unforthcoming past….

Behind Japan’s escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses.

Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all.

In one case, workers hand-mixed uranium in stainless steel buckets, instead of processing by machine, so the fuel could be reused, exposing hundreds of workers to radiation. Two later died.

“Everything is a secret,” said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who now lives in California. “There’s not enough transparency in the industry.”

Sugaoka worked at the same utility that runs the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant where workers are racing against time to prevent a full meltdown following the March 11 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami.

In 1989, Sugaoka received an order that horrified him: edit out footage showing cracks in plant steam pipes in video being submitted to regulators. Sugaoka alerted his superiors in the Tokyo Electric Power Co, but nothing happened. He decided to go public in 2000. Three TEPCO executives lost their jobs.

“It’s not as if TEPCO’s transparency and credibility was stellar prior to March 11, 2011. Back in 2002, TEPCO covered up the facts about cracks in the nuclear reactors at three nuclear power plants (Joi Ito covered this). Around a week after the earthquake and tsunami, the Associated Press rehashed TEPCO’s unforthcoming past….

Behind Japan’s escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses.

Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all.

In one case, workers hand-mixed uranium in stainless steel buckets, instead of processing by machine, so the fuel could be reused, exposing hundreds of workers to radiation. Two later died.”

“Everything is a secret,” said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who now lives in California. “There’s not enough transparency in the industry.”

Sugaoka worked at the same utility that runs the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant where workers are racing against time to prevent a full meltdown following the March 11 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami.

In 1989, Sugaoka received an order that horrified him: edit out footage showing cracks in plant steam pipes in video being submitted to regulators. Sugaoka alerted his superiors in the Tokyo Electric Power Co, but nothing happened. He decided to go public in 2000. Three TEPCO executives lost their jobs.”

Oh oh..here’s an enemy..
Voluntary Principles…
No time to explain…large energy companies…have this organization…to mitigate the ‘differences’ ..between the blood sucking whore big business…and citizen.
It is about how to “deal” with human rights abuse and perhaps ..the violence that might spark up …when the people realize they hvae been robbed.

P.S. I am new here, but not new to Enenews.com I have been reading hear everyday since the “accident” and have sent many people this way. Most just think I am crazy until they actually read the articles then they become strangely silent and no longer want to discuss Fukushima. Denial is a powerful defense. Sigh.

1. This event is an unprecedented calamity with unpredictable onwards progress and consequences of unimaginable magnitude. Absorbing the hugeness of it is not for everyone. Maybe a big percentage of people do not have the capacity or aptitude. Not a bad thing, we are social animals with a variety of viewpoints and characteristics, and the lifestyle of social beings demands this variety.

2. But if you filter out this lot you have another segment who appreciate the scope of the problem but have no skill to think about solutions. This group too may fail to vocalise their (lack of) response.

3. Others still are just bloody minded with a belief system that starts and ends with “Can’t happen to me”.

Denial is a powerful defence (King Cnut) only in mental terms. It doesn’t work with real life irresistible forces and immovable objects. It is also, maybe, the cause of many road traffic accidents.

I have someone quite near to me who has almost certainly read the same as, if not more than, myself, and will be spending the next year in the partially or formerly honourable land of the rising sun, in complete denial of the possibility that their own body will be affected by the radiation contamination.

Hi Blown, denial should not be called a powerful defence, as it is not shielding them from the fallout. Denial is being PATHETIC. But one can not stop wandering why with all the education we know have, all the knowledge thats readilly avalilable at our fingertips (as shown bu all this amasing ENENEWS PEOPLE, who digg tierlessly for knowledge), with all the good food and soft beds and free time….how can it be that the majority is still so defenceless?

Dear Whoopie
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”.
you and many other brave voices of enenews have shown where you stand. you may use any peaceful means to reach out and help others find the courage to step over their fears. i suspect that they fear the truth because it is to uncomfortable and inconvenient. but they will scramble to their legs and run panic stricken when they get the bad test results from the doctor in time to come. then they will poor all their energy, money and time to trie and find a cure for something that is uncurable. if they would have made the same effort to fight for their right to live uncompromised from invisibly floating alpha and beda particles, they would be able to enjoy a rosy old age with sunkissed healthy grandchildren sharing with them juicy strawberries and ice cream (WHICH I MISSED EATING SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!)

If one man can bring the focus to MSM, just think what 2000 or more can do…

Worker’s Eerie Show on Fukushima Daiichi Webcam

A worker at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s infamous Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has a message for the world.

What exactly he wants to convey remains unknown, made all the more cryptic because of the person’s masked identity. But the image is striking, even disturbing.

The plant’s live-streaming camera, installed about 250 meters northwest of the No.1 reactor, captured a wandering figure on Sunday morning. The person, covered completely in the protective work wear and mask, initially appeared lost. But then took purposeful strides towards the camera.

The person appeared to stare at something in his hands — a note? a cellphone? – before very deliberately, slowly raising an arm and pointing a finger toward the lens. And stood there.

After nearly 20 minutes in that position, the figure lumbered closer, right up to the camera under a face obscured by a protective mask nearly pressed against the lens. Soon after, the figure disappeared, leaving the camera once again neutrally filming the backdrop of the damaged reactor buildings.

A Tepco spokesman Hiroki Kawamata said the mysterious person is most likely a plant worker of some description, but is difficult to determine the person’s identity because of the hazmat suit and mask.

Also, because a large portion of the thousands of workers at the plant are contract laborers, including some who only work for one day, it makes solving the conundrum that much more challenging. Mr. Kawamata said the utility company does not intend to investigate the matter further.

@Jebus – I think it’s connected to the death. He may of been angry about the death of a fellow worker. Thats just a guess. It makes sense the TEPCO workers would know before the media by a day or two. Actually It’s TEPCO so nothing really makes sense.

On another topic I have a contributor on my site. This write up by him “crookhaven” made me proud. Such passion and nails the point.

If you don’t understand from This point on, this needs to be known and if there was any chance in he’ll this monster needs to be contained, atleast save half the southern hemisphere,, maybe we could save the human race that way, If not already too late, let’s being awareness forward in order to get every nuclear body together to contain this monster ,

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